HIGH DESERT SWEET MEAD
LINKS OF INTEREST!
So, how come Mead? Until recently I didn't even know what Mead was. I had read about it and formed some ideas about it, but never tasted it. While at Legs Inn, a restaurant located in Cross Village, MI, my cousin ordered a glass of Mead. I tasted it and loved it. My cousin loved it. I shot my mouth off and said that I could make the stuff. So now, I'm making Mead at home. Don't rush right over to have a sample of Fister's Mead. The first batch, which is fermenting now, will not be totally ready until my birthday in 2010!
August 16th, 2008
On the 16th my brother, Bruce, and I purchased the ingredients for the first batch of mead to be produced by The High Desert Resort. The ingredients include the following:
15 Pounds of Mesquite Honey
2.5 tsp of Acid Blend
2.5 tsp of Pectic Enzyme
2 tsp of Yeast Nutrient Powder
3 Campden Tablets
1 tsp of Tannin
2 packets of Wine Yeast
1 bottle of Liquid Wine Yeast
Because of the high concentration of honey, it will be considered a "Sweet" mead opposed to a "Dry" mead, which uses a lower concentration of honey in water. The mix we are using is 1 part honey to 2 parts water, or 33% honey. Since the honey used is Mesquite Honey from the High Desert, this mead is called High Desert Sweet Mead!
August 17th, 2008
My brother and I were ready to do some serious brewing. In addition to the mead, we brewed up some Long Tail Kolsch Ale. The mead was the easiest and quickest.
After cleaning and sanitizing everything, we went to the store and purchased enough purified water to make the mead. So, the first thing we did was to place the bags of honey in warm water so the honey would become runny. Then we put about 3 gallons of water into the large carboy bottle. To this we added the acid blend, honey, yeast nutrient, campden tablets, and the pectic. I liked the amount that was in the carboy, so we stirred it, put a vapor lock on the bottle, and set it aside to gas off.
August 18th, 2008
After letting the mead "gas off", it was time to add the yeast. The gas that needed to gas off was SO2 produced by the Camden tablets reacting with the honey. The campden basically is used to sanitize the honey. At the same time you add the yeast you have to add tannin. Being the resourceful kind of fellow I am, I elected to add the campden to the liquid yeast. I then poured the entire mess into the musk, put the airlock back on, and set it aside to await the beginning of the fermentation.
August 20th, 2008
Still no fermentation! I'm thinking that maybe I shouldn't have mixed the tannin directly into the liquid yeast. So, there were two packets of dry yeast left over that I prepared and put into the musk. The airlock was put back on and once again, the future mead was set aside.
August 21st, 2008
Fermentation has begun! Deep sigh of relief!
August 27th, 2008
The fermentation slowed down and it was now time to rack the mead into another carboy for its secondary fermentation. Once again all the equipment was sanitized to prevent unwanted growth! I transferred the mead to the secondary fermenter (another clean carboy, actually), put an airlock on it and set it aside to finish the process.
Future Dates
November 27,2008 we will need to rack the mead one more time and let it clear. Shortly after that, maybe on the 29th, the mead will be ready to bottle.
About August 27th, 2009 we will make an initial taste test of the mead.
About May 31st, 2010 (My 64th Birthday) the mead should be finished and as good as it is going to get!
Stay tuned!!!!
After mixing everything up, the beer and the mead are placed under my computer counter to ferment.
The beer is on the left and has already started to clear. The mead, on the right, is still fermenting. Mead ferments slower.